A 2017-18 health ministry audit found three private clinics had overbilled for services by $15.9 million. Last month, the federal government cut the amount from B.C.’s health funding, after Health Canada reviewed the audit.

Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said that if B.C. took “corrective measures, we certainly would be in a position to reimburse them.

Now, a medical practitioner’s first doublebilling conviction will cost $10,000. The second offence will cost $20,000, and they may be un-enrolled from the Medical Services Plan, meaning they won’t be able to bill the province their work and get paid.

The new rules don’t affect patients paying for procedures not covered by provincial health care.

Anyone who has been overbilled will be refunded by the Medical Service Commission.

Edith MacHattie, the co-chair of the BC Healthcare Coalition, said that she was happy to see government finally enforcing its own laws.

MacHattie said that the coalition heard from patients who felt like they had no other choice but to pay clinic for the procedures they needed.

“Clinics are taking advantage of patients who are in pain and desperate,” she said.

“People are overpaying to the tune of thousands of dollars.”

The most common overbilling targets simple, common procedures such as orthopaedic and cataract surgeries, MacHattie noted.